At some point Wednesday night, Phil Peckinpaugh might have felt like he was Fox Mulder — the fictional FBI special agent who probed supernatural mysteries on TV's "The X-Files" — instead of the director of the Muncie Animal Shelter.

In his nearly 31/2 years at the shelter, Peckinpaugh has been out on some unusual calls. In one instance, he made the macabre discovery of hundreds of dead rodents in a quasi-pet shop, while an angry, caged parrot repeatedly screeched — seemingly at the shelter director — "What are you doing?"

But Wednesday's episode ranked as "really bizarre," Peckinpaugh would later tell the W/R Report.

In a parking lot in the 1300 block of North Elm Street, he found chicken.

Not one chicken. Not a few dozen chickens.

No, we're talking about more than 500 pounds of semi-processed chicken meat.

"The neighbors were complaining about the smell," he said. "And rightfully so. It was pretty rank."

With that much meat on hand, some might question why Peckinpaugh didn't arrange for delivery of a few hundred loaves of bread, several gallons of mustard and mayonnaise, and stage a impromptu picnic for residents of the near-northside.

Not an option, the shelter director said. In the midst of the pungent mountain of meat were feathers and chicken feet.

Could the meat have been fed to the dogs and cats now being housed at the shelter?

"It was rotten," Peckinpaugh said. "It probably had maggots. No way."

A Muncie Sanitary District truck equipped with a "claw" was brought to the scene, and the mysterious meat was taken away, apparently to be incinerated.

Where did the 500 pounds of chicken come from? It's a mystery to Peckinpaugh, and apparently to other city officials.

Was it a really lame attempt by would-be terrorists to incite panic?

Were extraterrestrials somehow involved?

Could it have been the work of hooligans from Anderson trying to disrupt the ongoing celebration of Muncie's sesquicentennial?

The truth is out there.

"The X-Files," which ended its nine-season run on Fox -TV in 2002, is set to return for six new episodes later this year. Perhaps producers will want to incorporate Muncie's chicken conundrum into the new plot line.

(An episode late in the series' run — after David Duchovny's Fox Mulder character had left the show — was partially set, but not filmed in, a Muncie salvage yard.)

Peckinpaugh would likely be willing to serve as a story consultant.

While picking up, and then caring for, stray animals is the shelter's primary responsibility, its employees also are called on to collect the remains of those unfortunate animals who have been run down by vehicles.

A recent column noted that if Democrat Dennis Tyler — currently without a 2015 opponent — wins a second term this November, and then remains in office through June 24, 2018, he will become the oldest mayor in Muncie's history.

Republican Joseph Barclay was 75 years and 201 days old when his term as mayor ended on Jan. 1, 1956.

But Tyler is by no means the oldest incumbent mayor seeking re-election in Indiana this year.

In Elkhart, Democrat Dick Moore is seeking another term as mayor at age 80.

Moore would likely view the 72-year-old Tyler as a young up-and-comer.

Barton had an excused absence

Mary Jo Barton contacted W/R last week to ask that we explain to the public why she missed last Monday's meeting of Muncie City Council.

That was the meeting that saw a couple of important bits of business, including measures opposing discrimination and declaring that Muncie is a welcoming community. The resolution came in the wake of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Barton missed the meeting because of a death in her family. The death was mentioned in Monday's meeting but we didn't report it because some officials consider such matters highly personal in nature.

But Barton wanted the public to know that she wouldn't have missed such an important meeting if it could possibly have been helped.

That meeting was also notable for its invocation. City council members usually invite people to the meetings to award them honors or to ask them to say a prayer at the top of the meeting.

At last Monday's meeting, Marwin Strong was asked to say the prayer. The choice was interesting because in the May Democratic Party primary election, Strong will be one of six candidates for three seats. His opponents? Incumbent council members Linda Gregory, Alison Quirk and Nora Evans Powell, who were on the dais for the prayer.

To contact the authors of this column: Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 or kroysdon@muncie.gannett.com or Douglas Walker at 765-213-5851 or dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.